The WHO has said all types of cigarettes, including e-cigarettes, are detrimental to health. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine and carcinogens, which are harmful for smokers and those who are exposed to second-hand smoke.
There is no evidence that proves e-cigarettes could help smokers quit smoking. There are also safety concerns regarding the use of e-cigarettes.
Most e-cigarettes contain carcinogens and can be used to consume marijuana and drugs such as etomidate. The Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法), which was promulgated last year, prohibits selling, demonstrating and using e-cigarettes.
Despite the law being in effect for almost two years, e-cigarette smokers can still be seen almost everywhere on the streets. Foreigners can also be seen smoking e-cigarettes outside the airport.
Although a law has been enacted to ban e-cigarettes, it seems that the relevant authorities are not proactive about implementing it.
I was recently at a driving training school to sign up for a course for my son. There, I saw a woman, who was probably in her 30s, smoking an e-cigarette while waiting for her turn to practice driving.
Five or six classmates, who were also waiting for their turn to practice alongside the woman, stood up and stayed away from her. Three coaches, watching her from a distance, discussed with each other, not knowing what to do.
When I saw this, I walked toward her and said loudly: “Miss, smoking e-cigarettes is illegal. The penalty ranges from NT$2,000 to NT$10,000.” Shocked, the woman put away her e-cigarette and apologized to the people surrounding her. The Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act has been in effect for almost two years. Many smokers count on luck and blatantly violate the law just because there has not been enough enforcement of the law.
Local health agencies should expand manpower to enforce the new law. This is necessary to correct bad habits and maintain people’s health.
Chen Hung-hui is a counselor.
Translated by Fion Khan
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
RSS